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Sensors
Volume 26
Issue 1
10.3390/s26010097
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This is an early access version, the complete PDF, HTML, and XML versions will be available soon.
Article

Activity Detection of Paralympic Athletes with Lower Limb Running-Specific Prosthesis During Extended Periods of Time: Software Development and Preliminary Validation

by
Mirco Tioli
1,
Isotta Bernardoni
2,
Maria Grazia Santi
1,3,
Roberto Di Marco
3,
Giuseppe Marcolin
4,
Nicola Petrone
1 and
Andrea Giovanni Cutti
3,*
1
Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Padova, 35131 Padua, Italy
2
ETH Zurich, D-ITET, Gloriastrasse 35, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland, Switzerland
3
Centro Protesi INAIL, Via Rabuina 14, 40054 Vigorso, Italy
4
Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padova, 35131 Padua, Italy
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sensors 2026, 26(1), 97; https://doi.org/10.3390/s26010097 (registering DOI)
Submission received: 27 November 2025 / Revised: 17 December 2025 / Accepted: 18 December 2025 / Published: 23 December 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Application of Sensing Technologies for Gait Analysis and Rehabilitation: The Role of Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence)
Versions Notes

Abstract

Monitoring the activities of athletes with lower-limb amputations who use running-specific prostheses is essential for evaluating their training regimes, as well as the effectiveness and mechanical fatigue wear of their prostheses over time. Recent advancements in Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) and activity detection algorithms offer new opportunities for objective assessment, but their application in Paralympic sports remains unexplored. The aims of this work were to design and implement an innovative protocol and analytical software for short-term and long-term activity detection of athletes with transtibial and transfemoral amputation and then test its validity on a sample of elite Paralympic runners and triathletes. Overall, the ability of the model to detect activities presented an accuracy of 98%, and the error in the stride counting for all activities fell within a 1% margin.
Keywords: IMU; lower-limb amputation; Paralympics; running prosthesis; activity monitoring; stride counting; sprinting; triathlon IMU; lower-limb amputation; Paralympics; running prosthesis; activity monitoring; stride counting; sprinting; triathlon

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MDPI and ACS Style

Tioli, M.; Bernardoni, I.; Santi, M.G.; Di Marco, R.; Marcolin, G.; Petrone, N.; Cutti, A.G. Activity Detection of Paralympic Athletes with Lower Limb Running-Specific Prosthesis During Extended Periods of Time: Software Development and Preliminary Validation. Sensors 2026, 26, 97. https://doi.org/10.3390/s26010097

AMA Style

Tioli M, Bernardoni I, Santi MG, Di Marco R, Marcolin G, Petrone N, Cutti AG. Activity Detection of Paralympic Athletes with Lower Limb Running-Specific Prosthesis During Extended Periods of Time: Software Development and Preliminary Validation. Sensors. 2026; 26(1):97. https://doi.org/10.3390/s26010097

Chicago/Turabian Style

Tioli, Mirco, Isotta Bernardoni, Maria Grazia Santi, Roberto Di Marco, Giuseppe Marcolin, Nicola Petrone, and Andrea Giovanni Cutti. 2026. "Activity Detection of Paralympic Athletes with Lower Limb Running-Specific Prosthesis During Extended Periods of Time: Software Development and Preliminary Validation" Sensors 26, no. 1: 97. https://doi.org/10.3390/s26010097

APA Style

Tioli, M., Bernardoni, I., Santi, M. G., Di Marco, R., Marcolin, G., Petrone, N., & Cutti, A. G. (2026). Activity Detection of Paralympic Athletes with Lower Limb Running-Specific Prosthesis During Extended Periods of Time: Software Development and Preliminary Validation. Sensors, 26(1), 97. https://doi.org/10.3390/s26010097

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